Russell, Gannon, Plunket and Stabler

By MikeBullock  |   Thursday, November 05, 2009  |  Comments( 4 )

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“He has the best arm I’ve seen since John Elway,” announced Al Davis, not long after the giant JaMarcus Russell was drafted by the Oakland Raiders. Unfortunately, Elway had the motivation, willpower and mental capacity to become a winner on football’s biggest stage, all things Russell has proven to be lacking.

Looking back, we can see a history of taking QBs who had been labeled a bust and turning them into winners. Ken Stabler couldn’t unseat incumbent Darryl Lamonica for four years. Jim Plunkett was widely considered a washed up failure when he landed on the Raider bench behind Dan Pastorini. Rich Gannon had long since been tagged as nothing more than a career back up when he donned the silver & black. Not one of them were compared to a Hall of Fame QB from the past.

None of these men were given the opportunities afforded Russell, yet when given the ball, they rose above their detractors and each led the team to a Conference Championship and Superbowl glory. Well, the latter part doesn’t apply to Gannon, but Raider Nation has ex-Center Barrett Robbins to thank for that.

Ken Stabler hit the lineup in similar fashion to Russell, but over the next two and half seasons racked up 4990 yards, 44 touchdowns and 25 interceptions while leading the Raiders to 23-9-1 record.

Over Plunkett’s first three seasons, which also included a partial campaign in 1980, he threw for 5115 yards, 36 touchdowns, 40 interceptions and a 23-15 regular season record, which doesn’t include the 1983 Superbowl Championship.

Fast forward to Rich Gannon, brought on under Jon Gruden’s watch to a massive groan from Raider Nation. Who didn’t remember watching Chester McGlockton harass Gannon in prior seasons when he called the signals for the rival Kansas City Chiefs? However, over the next three years, Gannon would throw for an amazing 11098 yards, 79 touchdowns, 34 picks and become the only player in NFL history to become Pro Bowl MVP in back to back games.

Sure, each of these three had Hall of Fame wideouts to throw to and Hall of Fame offensive lineman to block for them. Nevertheless, it must be noted that those guys didn’t land in the Hall of Fame all on their own, someone had to run that offense to put them there.

When people talk about “The Greatness of the Raiders” this is what they mean.

For those who didn’t read the last article, for comparisons purposes, here’s a recap of Russell’s numbers across a similar time span shown from the men above:

3796 yards, 17 touchdowns and 21 INTs. That’s 1200 yards shy of Stabler’s total, the lowest among great Raider QBs in the span. 23 touchdowns below Plunkett’s low water mark of 40. And while he’s tossed less picks, the TD to INT ratio is also the worst.

To really put this in perspective, in three seasons JaMarcus has failed to equal what Rich Gannon did in his first season alone. Or the second, third, etc…

But, that’s okay, Russell says “I did a pretty good job.” And apparently, Al Davis believes him…
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CommentsComments: 4  |  Sign Up  View all comments
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No.1
neil b		11:00 AM
11/05/2009
Mike....... First of all you should be slapped over the back of the head for putting JaMarcus in the same sentence as those ...
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No.2
neil b		11:04 AM
11/05/2009
Raidhez........I'll tell you whats depressing my friend.Everytime I turn on my computer to find out whats going on in Raider land ...
No.3
radnatfaith		05:54 PM
11/05/2009
Jamarcus Russel is not, will never be an NFL QB. Al Davis swore on him and fired Kiffen for not going along with him on it. So ...
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